Skeptical silence ruled the living room. "You hit Emperor Wrex with a dumpster," Julie said.
Jack just smiled, sipping from her glass. Faridah snorted. "I'm going to ask him, next time we visit Tuchanka, if that's true."
"He wouldn't admit it if it was," Mikail chided his wife. "A mighty krogan, outwitted and outfought by a tiny slip of a girl?"
Jason just laughed. "Uh-huh. Sorry, mom, but I'm throwing down the bullshit flag."
Gasping dramatically, Jack put one hand to her mouth. "Jason Arterius Shepard, who taught you to swear like that?"
Both Jason and Faridah answered in long-practiced unison. "You did!"
Grumbling, Jack leaned forward. "Fine. You don't believe that's how I met Wrex, huh? How about when I studied with a justicar?"
"Whoa, Justicar Samara took you on as her student?" Cerise said, rolling over and sitting up. "That sounds cool!"
Jack winced. "Well, kind of."
Samara sat, unmoving, in the middle of the floor. Jack lay on the bench nearby, head hanging over the edge and watching her. The damn asari hadn't moved in four hours now, regardless of anything Jack had tried to distract her. Shouting had been fun, until her throat started to hurt. Biotic displays had gone unnoticed, and even threatening to shoot something hadnt drawn any attention. She'd been laying on the bench in various positions, staring, for the last half hour.
Well, almost anything. She hadn't actually tried to touch the asari, given the face-sized ball of biotic energy held between her hands. And it was glowing pure white, a trick she'd never seen before, which was the whole reason she was here in the first place.
Groaning, Jack rolled off the bench and to her feet. "Come on, you old bitch! What will it take to learn a little bit from you?"
For the first time, Samara opened her eyes, and they were glowing the same white, which was kind of scary but really cool. "Not insulting me would be a good start."
"Insulting you?" Jack asked, confused.
Samara's eyes closed again. "Never mind."
She groaned even louder, one hand rubbing over her bald scalp in frustration. Staring at the justicar, she settled down in front of her, mirroring her posture as best she could. Jack still didn't know why the crazy asari cop/priest would sit in front of a window with her eyes closed, but if she opened them again, she'd be staring at Jack instead. Maybe blocking her view would do something.
Raising her hands, she slowly summoned up her own ball of biotic energy. Hers was, of course, the same blue-black shade her powers always were, coruscating wildly between her palms as she held her arms up in the same pose.
Ten minutes crawled by. "Why are you doing that?" Samara asked. Her eyes remained closed.
"I might learn something," Jack asked. "Or I'll piss you off until you talk to me."
"That is unlikely. I have spent four centuries as a justicar. We are known for our emotional and mental control." Samara's expression didn't change, and neither did her biotic energy change.
Jack shrugged, the simple motion almost enough to make her lose control. "Whatever." She fought to keep the ball of power in place, which was significantly harder than it might appear to an outsider. Not enough to start sweating, yet, but shed probably eat a second helping of Gardner's food.
Another five minutes passed. "What is it you hope to learn from me?"
"You're one hell of an ass-kicker, but you've got this whole, I dunno, inner peace shit going on," Jack replied. "I don't have that yet. Maybe I will once Shepard pulls his eyes away from the mineral scanner and takes us to Pragia."
"Inner peace is not something one can pick up, like food at the market," Samara chided her. "It comes from within."
"That last thing that came within me was a guy," Jack snarked.
The asari's eyes finally opened. Clearly, more sex jokes were needed to break through her shell. "Jokes are not the best emotional defense method."
Jack opened her mouth to reply, but at the same time the door slid open. Shepard stood in the doorway, staring at them for a moment. "I … should go," he said, backing out of the room. Samara didn't deign to notice his arrival or departure.
"Inner peace is knowing, and accepting, what the universe has given to you, and what it has taken away," Samara said.
Jack sat silently for several moments, contemplating those words of wisdom. Nodding, she dropped her hands to her knees. "Fuck that." Samara didnt smile, but her eyes closed again as Jack slunk out of the room.